HOME | DD
Psithyrus β Stand on Guard for Thee
Published: 2010-08-11 11:59:16 +0000 UTC; Views: 15353; Favourites: 403; Downloads: 595
Redirect to original
Description
This is a picture-in-a-picture concept. In this scene, a parent is alerted by brachiosaurs grazing on nearby trees. I placed a brachiosaur in this picture. See if you can find it. Hint: You may have to download the bigger picture.The small raptor is a hypothetical dinosaur. From the diversity of organisms and niches we see today, it can be assumed that dinosaur biodiversity far exceeds that evidenced by the fossil record today. Many dinos are portrayed as lumbering hulks or sprinting predators. Some are known to have attained flight. However, arboreal dinos were very common also. Their niches are now taken by sloths, lemurs, and monkeys. These flightless raptors would spend their entire lives in the canopies of dense mountain forests. Their EQβs would have been the highest of all dromaeosaurs or troodontids. Their larger brains would be necessary to process the greater input of visual and auditory information from their 3-D environment. Some species, such as this little eumaniraptor, had opposable digits and could have in fact picked up twigs for nest material, but also for using simple tools to extricate grubs from their galleries. If it werenβt for the KT extinction, these little dinos may have become the most intelligent creatures on Earth.
Thanks for looking,
Blair
Related content
Comments: 114
I'm drawing that, but this dinosaur monkey is amazing.
π: 0 β©: 0
Next, we need an ancestor who is terrestrial, built like a wrestler with a meaty head and walks on it's knuckles, and looks vaguely like a primeval tree-creeper but has dark blue feathers, scaly hands, feet, underbellies and faces, yellow scales on females and red scales on males, and all have blue, yellow or green eyes.
π: 0 β©: 0
I've never thought about 'raptors' climbing and hanging from branches this 'monkey' way. But why not? You gave me a new perspective.
And it's a marmosetraptor
π: 0 β©: 0
Either the dark green background, or a reflection in his eye.
π: 0 β©: 0
The amount of detail in this is absolutely breathtaking!
π: 0 β©: 0
Is the title a reference to the Canadian national anthem?
π: 0 β©: 0
very detailed and unique; this deserved a fave.
π: 0 β©: 0
Thanks,
I'm glad you found them, I didn't expect folks to have such a difficult time finding the brachs, but I guess my rendering of them was pretty rudimentary.
Thanks again,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 0
Very realistic and fascinating. I don't see the brach, but I like the out of focus babies and the detailed ants on the branch. This actually kicks off a bunch of wildlife ideas for a story setting I'm working on too.
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks for the kind words,
As a good hint to find the brach. The brach is in the eyes of the beholder! Good luck on your story.
Cheers,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 1
You're welcome.
As for the brach, is that a reflection in the eye/beak? I considered first that the brach was from the perspective of the person viewing, but the critter doesn't seem to be looking directly at me.
π: 0 β©: 1
You can just make out the neck and tail of the brach as a reflection in the mom's eyes. You found it. It's not a very good likeness of a brachiosaur, but that's all I could manage to draw at a brush width of just 1 pixel.
Thanks again,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 0
Did you draw this, or just break into SpecWorld with a camera?
π: 0 β©: 1
Hi Singemeister,
I had to google SpecWorld to find out what it was all about. Very cool idea. I always wondered what life might have been like if the big one didn't hit the earth. Unfortunately, these little guys also fell dead after the chicxulub impactor. I like to imagine what other dinos might have lived, considering that fossilization is such a rare process, and hence, many mesozoic species probably vanished without leaving any evidence of their existence. Maybe lemur-like dromaeosaurids also existed, ya I was inspired to draw this picture after watching Madagascar 2.
Thanks for the kind words,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 0
The question is what are they eating. Coniferous forests have a relatively low support of animal biomass. Deciduous forests are subject to boom and bust with the coming of wet and dry seasons. The advantage of avian dinosaurs (birds) is their ability to move with the resources. A non-volant form might be confined to the tropics where the length of the day remains relaitively constant.
π: 0 β©: 1
Whoa, your knowledge of ecology is awesome. I haven't given much thought to the carrying capacity of some dino environments. You're probably correct, that the forests that support these little guys would have to be particularly lush. Given the warmer climes of the Cretaceous, I suspect forest habitats were probably far more diverse than those today. Hell, there must have been oodles of trees, shrubs and wildflowers to support such massive herbivores as brachiosaurs and ceratopsians. Where there are lots of plants, you'll find lots of bugs. These little guys are opportunists whose omnivorous diet mainly includes fleshy grubs of buprestid and cerambycid beetles, which are insects that love to feed in conifers, just ask any forester.
Thanks for the insights,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 1
Although warm climates went all the way to the poles, the higher latitudes still experienced months of darkness. Yet a grub diet would permit year-round residence. In the Eocene when Cretaceous thermal levels returned, plagiomenids (dermopterans) probably lived on a gum diet above the Arctic Cirle.
π: 0 β©: 0
Wow, I really love this piece ! It's interesting to see people speculate on what existed at that time, rather, than what would have been in a world where dinosaurs continued to exist...I'd love to see an extensive series of such 'possible' animals !
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks, Chimpeetah, I can't believe how similar my arboreal raptor is to your simiaraptor. Wow, we kinda think alike. I love you gallery and I,m going to look in from time to time for some great ideas. Keep drawing your wonderful menagerie.
Thanks,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 1
Wow, I completely forgot about the Simiaraptor, and although I did not draw it, it was a collaborative design. And of course you can come look in my gallery , I'm going to try to start a series called "They Live !", that is a project based around species of dinosaur that exist in an alternate KT-less universe, though this promises to be very different from such projects
π: 0 β©: 0
I can't find the brachiosaurs in the picture, but I like the concept of a dinosaurian primate.
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks Brandon,
The brach is very very small and is not that obvious. Only a few people found it without any additional hints. There are two copies of the brachiosaur, and that's a pretty good clue. You might only be able to distinguish the long neck and tail, and not much else.
Good luck,
Cheers,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 0
Thats great! excellent work on the face especially. you've successfully given it the "spark" of intelligence in its eyes, if that makes any sense.
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks Nathaniel,
Your dino art is very realistic, and they have cool expressions on their faces. I also love your firearms designs. I am a military small arms buff. I love older arms made of wood and steel. Not a big fan of contemporary guns made of alloy and plastic.
Thanks for the kind words and best wishes,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 0
Wow this is amazing *faves*
I can't find the brachiosaur D:
π: 0 β©: 1
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for the very kind words. The brachiosaur isn't that obvious because it is a very small picture that isn't drawn very realistically. The brachiosaur is perhaps the smallest thing in the picture. As a clue, there are actually two almost identical pictures of the brachiosaur feeding on treetops. The brachiosaur is standing on its hind legs. The drawing is so small that you can just make out the long neck and tail, not much else.
Good luck and best wishes,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 0
The details in this are wonderful. I thought it was a photomanipulation when I saw the thumbnail, but this is far better. I love how you can take prehistoric creatures and make something that looks like it could live and breath right now.
That's really interesting.
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks Epona, I like to keep adding new things after I step back from the picture awhile. It was an archeopteryx flying over its nest with two eggs. I had the original scan and thought I would improve on it as I learned more about Photoshop. With the filter tools I can get almost any texture that I could never had gotten with traditional brushes and paint. Digital painting is so cool and versatile. A colleage told me about an orphaned orangutan in Borneo that her family adopted; afterward, I was inspired to turn my original bird-like dino into a primate-like dino, perhaps they existed. In traditional media I would never had the courage to change a picture so radically, but you just keep saving the old versions, so really I have 10 different variations of this scene on my hardrive, I just picked the one that turned out the best.
Best whishes,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 0
Hm, I can't point out what I like about this without being all technical and boring. So I'll just say, this is really cool.
Also, found the Brachiosaur.
π: 0 β©: 1
Many thanks,
Your picture 'Mine" is a very cool concept, very attractive design.
Yerz,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 1
Thank you, I really appreciate it. And thanks for the fave as well. :]
π: 0 β©: 0
Found the brach!
How neat! I thought it was a photo at first, nicely done :3
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks Hanna, You characters are wondefully designed, and I am glad a few folks have already found the dino. I always wanted to do a painting as a reflection on shiney surfaces.
Thanks again for looking and all the best,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 0
very good and very realistic, i can't find the hidden dino though
π: 0 β©: 1
Hi JT,
Thanks and I really love your leaping lizard avatar. The brachiosaur is very very small. As a good hint, there are actually two images of brachiosaur. Good luck,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 1
FOUND IT!!! the reflection in the eyes is amazing, how did you get it in there?
π: 0 β©: 1
Hooray!! I draw such a small reflection I had to set the brush tool to 1 pixel. Yup, I am a glutton for punishment. I started seeing spots after that day of adding all those fine little details.
Cheers,
Blair
π: 0 β©: 1
| Next =>